"Then in the light of the new day,
16 April 1117,
there was a blinding flash of metal in the
sun."George Mackay Brown

The story of Magnus Erlendsson - Orkney's Saint Magnus - begins in 1098 - a time when
the Orkney earldom was divided between two brothers, the earls Paul
and Erlend.

Magnus was the eldest son of Earl Erlend, while his
cousin, Hakon, was the son of Paul.

In 1098, the Norwegian king,. Magnus "Barelegs", arrived suddenly in Orkney. He unseated both earls and made his illegitimate son, Sigurd, overlord of the islands. Earls Paul and Erlend were instructed to go to Norway, where they both died before winter's end.

With Sigurd in place as "king" of Orkney, King Magnus left
Orkney on a raiding expedition, making sure he took Hakon and the
18-year-old Magnus with him. Heading down the west coast of Scotland,
the raiders travelled as far south as Anglesey.

The raid on Anglesey

According to the sagas, on the voyage south, young Magnus would
not fight during the raids.

When the Vikings
attacked the Welsh rulers of Anglesey, Magnus refused to participate.
Instead, we are told he chose to remain on the ship singing psalms - overtly
Christian behaviour that did not please the Norwegian King, who already disliked
Magnus, who he regarded a coward, intensely.

This episode, although perfectly setting up the saintly
image of Magnus, could have a number of explanations.

Firstly, it is highly possible that the account is a later addition, specifically
introduced to emphasise Magnus' piety. The lack of references to
Magnus in other historical accounts of the raiding voyage has prompted suggestions
that his inclusion in the Orkneyinga Saga version of events was purely fictional.

However, if we assume that Magnus was part of the
raiding party, his refusal to fight could have been for purely political
reasons rather than spiritual. The historian William Thomson points
out in his New History of Orkney, that Magnus had a "surprisingly
frequent involvment in Welsh affairs".

Whatever the truth, the Orkneyinga Saga
goes on to explain that Magnus escaped from the king's ship. Slipping overboard one night, he swam to the shore of Scotland, where he "disappeared"
until the death of King Magnus in Ireland in 1102.

After his brief period as "King of Orkney", Sigurd I of Norway became known as Sigurd Jorsalfare, because was the first Scandinavian king to participate in the Crusades.

In 1137, 20 or so years after Magnus' death,
and shortly after he was sainted, work began on a cathedral in Kirkwall dedicated to him.

When the cathedral was far enough advanced to receive consecration,
the relics of St Magnus were transferred from the parish of Birsay
into the new building. There they remained, unknown, until in 1919, during
extensive renovations, a hidden cavity was discovered in a pillar.

Within this cavity was a wooden box containing a damaged skull and
other bones. These remains were soon declared by the experts of the
day to be those of Magnus Erlendsson - Orkney's saint.

But this has since been questioned by archaeologist Professor Don
Brothwell, who suggested that the injuries on the skull do not match
the saga accounts of Magnus' death. Click
here to read.